Sand dunes take over farmlands, houses in Yobe
As a result of desert encroachment in Yobe State, sand dunes have taken over thousands of farmlands and houses, forcing residents to migrate southwards. reports.
It was like any other day in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State. The bright desert sun had become a problem for those who left their windows open as they regretted their action. When they returned home by sunset, their houses and household items were covered by sand, following a sandstorm that wreaked havoc that fateful afternoon.
The sandstorm is a desert condition in place of what would have been rainstorm in non-desert climes. In other words, during the rainy season, when people in the North-Central and southern part of the country are witnessing a lot of rain, people in the desert-prone states of the far North would witness sandstorms.
Yobe is one of Nigeria’s 11 states directly affected by the desert. The other 10 are Borno; Adamawa; Jigawa; Kano; Katsina; Gombe; Bauchi; Sokoto; Zamfara and Kebbi.
In Yobe, human and livestock populations are severely affected in eight local government areas, especially in the northern part of the state.
In a bid to proffer solution to the menace, in 1990, the Federal Government collaborated with the European Union (EU) and the then Borno State Government to establish the North-East Arid Zone Development Programme (NEAZDP) with headquarters in Garin Alkali in Bade Local Government Area of today’s Yobe.
The programme achieved a lot of success with small irrigation packages, animal fattening, small ruminant breeding, sand dunes fixation and conservation of rain water for livestock, among others. But the EU withdrew its support in 1995, while the Federal Government similarly backed out in 2006.The situation remained pitiable till 2009 when the Yobe State Government intervened and started collaborating with surrounding local government areas to fund its activities.
Despite the successes of NEAZDP, especially in its early years, the people of northern Yobe are alarmed at how desert is encroaching and destroying their farms and houses.
A document obtained from the Yobe State Ministry of Environment shows that desert encroachment is moving at a speed of 0.6km per annum. It states that sand dunes have taken over many farmlands and rendered thousands of inhabitants homeless.
Kalli Zarami, a resident of Ajiri village in Bursari Local Government Area, said the sand dunes, which occupied vast portions of land, had attendant negative impact on food and livestock production.
“The sand dunes which have eclipsed thousands of farmlands and houses have forced residents to migrate southwards. Now, desert encroachment has eaten into much of Matawa River, which is a major source of livelihood for the thousands of inhabitants,’’ he said.
Sand dunes are a prominent feature in several parts of Yobe State because of the dry nature of the climate. Rains are rare in the state, with resultant sparse vegetation. With little or no vegetation to act as barrier, sand is always easily spread across the state.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Daily Trust on Sunday Sunday, the Vice Chancellor of the Yobe State University, Damaturu, Professor Yakubu Mukhtar, said the Desert Research Monitoring and Control Centre was established in the school to curtail the menace of desert encroachment. According to him, the centre is working hard to achieve its mandate.
“We are situated in an environment that is prone to desertification. The centre is designed to take care of the menace, which is particularly harsh in the northern part of Yobe. The centre is involved in research and field work to check desert encroachment. As an institution of higher learning, we exist to work on our environment and improve life for the people. We do this in many ways,” he said.
Professor Mukhtar added that Governor Ibrahim Gaidam had been funding the university to achieve its goals.
With particular reference to improving vegetation to check such desert conditions as sandstorms, the vice chancellor said the centre had been to parts of northern Yobe to plant trees, among other things.
“Last year, the centre went to Gaidam and Yunusfari local government areas, where plants that could control the encroachment of the desert were planted,” he said, adding that the desert control programme of the centre is a continuous process.
On his part, the project manager of the North-East Arid Zone Development Programme, Dr. Hussaini K Hassan, said the project, still solely funded by Yobe State, had over 2.5 million hectares of land, out of which more than 1.5 million hectares were desert-prone.
Speaking on some of the activities of the programme, he said, “Now, we are raising over 100,000 seedlings annually, which we distribute to individuals and government agencies on request for farmland demarcation, homes, sand dunes fixation, road protection and economic trees.’’
He said a planned partnership with the Yobe State University and Federal University, Gashua, would greatly curb the challenges of desertification in the state.
“We have done so much on that, and we have a blueprint of what it takes to succeed. But it all depends on the volume of funding and the partnership they will have with us. For the past 26 years, we have achieved awareness on the danger of cutting down trees. We established shelterbelts, woodlots, sand dunes fixation and instilled a culture of tree planting in desertprone communities. But the skeletal funding is now affecting our operations because the area is so large that no government can fund it alone.’’
He called on the Federal Government to intervene once more for the sake of the thousands of homes and millions of people being displaced by desert encroachment.